Dominik Szoboszlai is Liverpool’s most important player, and UCL win over Real Madrid shows why

That Dominik Szoboszlai has been one of Liverpool’s best players this season, perhaps their best, is not really up for debate. What made Tuesday by far the campaign’s outstanding performance was how the Hungarian’s presence at the heart of the side enabled so many others to be their best selves.

Szoboszlai was all things to Arne Slot. Out of possession, his industry set the tone for the sort of diligence that is required if you are going to hold Real Madrid goalless. This was a Liverpool display of real commitment and organization, a collective willingness to sacrifice that has too rarely been seen since the half-billion-dollar splurge on new signings. That is probably not down to any lack of willingness on the part of the summer arrivals, more a lack of reference points who can define their approach.

Their No. 8 was like a lighthouse for the rest of this team. A cutback to the edge of the Liverpool area? There was Szoboszlai to boot the ball clear. A counter down the wing? You could rest assured that the support run would be coming from the Hungarian with the alice band. Every time there was a question to be asked of Thibaut Courtois, you could be sure that Szoboszlai would be involved in its posing. He drew the best save of the first half, his unerring set-piece delivery teed up plenty of his teammates to test the Real Madrid No. 1.

Eventually, it became too much for Courtois, beaten on the hour when a header flew off Alexis Mac Allister at close range. All the Argentine had to do is meet the fizzing cross from, well, you guessed who. No one carried the ball more frequently than Szoboszlai, no one took more shots and only Florian Wirtz created more chances. That last statistic is telling too. His teammates were better for having Szoboszlai back where he is at his best.

Wide on the left, it no longer fell on Wirtz to drop into midfield and aid the build-up. Over recent years, there have been few more devastating talents in the final third than the German, but he has spent too much of his early weeks in England dropping deep to aid Liverpool’s clunky, Trent Alexander-Arnold-less ball progression. This time, he held court in that inside left spot outside the box where he is at his best.

Further back, Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch got into a familiar groove, the latter exceptional in his eye for an interception and ability to carry upfield. And when the defense begins at the front of the pitch, it becomes all the easier for the back four to impose themselves in their individual duels, as Conor Bradley did quite outstandingly up against Vinicius Junior.

It helped Liverpool no end that Madrid were so tepid, not the first time that it has felt like Xabi Alonso has veered towards caution against a high-grade opponent. La Liga’s leaders were too eager to drag the tempo of the game down but ultimately achieved nothing more than wasting long spells of possession before Liverpool turned the pace up. Arda Guler was nothing like his usual self, instead far more subdued in his positioning. The dynamism of Federico Valverde might have helped; instead the hosts dubbed him the weak link in defense with a host of passes going from right to left to get Wirtz isolated against a midfielder masquerading as a right back.

It wasn’t only without the ball that Madrid missed Alexander-Arnold, whose return to the Anfield stage in the 82nd minute was greeted with a chorus of boos. The visitors had a devastating front three of Jude Bellingham, Vinicius and Kylian Mbappe, all of whom flashed threat on occasion but lacked the service to exert pressure. Slot could doubtless have told his counterpart that Alexander-Arnold’s more presence in an XI is usually a guarantee of ball progression from which forwards can feast.

Without any means of unlocking their attackers, Madrid turned out a performance not that dissimilar to their Merseyside trip last season. On that day, they had the big names too but had no answer for a true team like Liverpool’s.

Frankly, this was a vision of how the English champions should have come back to defend their crowns, much more than the muddled mess that came when they couldn’t bring themselves to choose between Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak. This was the side that Slot forged into comfortably England’s finest in 2024-25 but with the necessary upgrades and tweaks required. A midfield of Szoboszlai’s verve, Mac Allister’s precision and Gravenberch’s control was never a problem. It proved Tuesday to be a weapon capable of blowing Madrid out of the water.